Be that as it may, I have no alternative but to move forwards from how and where I find myself now with the knowhow and assets I currently have. This idea operates pretty universally. It applies within me for sure, and it also applies to the world outside of me.

Sometimes I can see what is missing ..

and sometimes I can't ... but I can often look around at what is present and then figure out what's missing ....

on the other hand, sometimes it will never be possible to obtain answers about that which is missing ....

Sherlock Holmes observed "the dog that didn't bark" at the crime scene and knew the culprit must the the dog's owner. What isn't there can be more revealing than what is. It depends.

So continuing in that vein, here is a book :

This book in it's original edition had 1348 pages. But when printed one version of this book had only 676 pages, and it was essentially the second half of the whole book.

This book fell foul of several problems when it was published. It got produced in "half" form. It sold out, and when prospective buyers, or libraries requested copies they were told that it was out of print. But it didn't get reprinted. And the publishing company of the sold out edition had copyright so nobody else could print it either.

The printers' plates for the original got destroyed by some sort of "accident".

Two pages were "left out".

Another complication was that the author who wrote it in good faith thinking that was ok, discovered he had "ruffled some feathers in high places" among those he previously considered his friends or at least, colleagues. He was loyal at first but later in his life, and this is subjective, he may have changed his opinion of his high society colleagues from earlier in his life. Interviews are not clear on this and the few audio records available must be listened to carefully.

Working on the principle that what is missing may be extremely interesting - those two pages which went missing - what did they contain? Here is a part of page 62 from link at the author's named website:

That would make interesting reading for people in government no doubt. But is it one of the missing pages? Or is it an interesting page located after the missing pages which moved into their place when they disappeared? And did I just highlight a part of the text somebody found offensive, (offensive to a degree beyond the other text), I won't provide the answer, so as to give you a good reason to delve into this at your leisure!

So the missing parts of that particular book provide illumination beyond their apparent content. They illuminate beyond their scope as it were. So interesting. It seems to me that what I need is some similar thing or source which does the same but is right up to date. That would be a wonderful help in figuring out what those in higher places than I are currently getting up to.

Well I can self educate and look at their motivations, and speculate as to what they must do to prosper. But if there are things I am not aware of my imagination might not go far enough and my speculations could fall short of the reality. It's those darned unknowns again!

Donald Rumsfeld Unknown Unknowns !

I leave it to you to consider how bizarre it is that a part of my message for today should be uttered, in one particular form, by that particular person! At least, I find it bizarre.

So we are all kept in the dark like mushrooms and getting fed BS? I agree that a substantial number of us are. However, while it is never, ever, mentioned, there's always the door if we wake up and decide to use it. Always the misinformation is present, ready to lure all of our attentions away from looking at the right things. Once we understand the game we must apply self discipline to not fall for the product of the PR industry. This is where the movie "The Matrix" comes easily to mind. Many people feel that it applies uncannily to life today. But it's just a fiction with a meme of unknown controllers of the everyday. Take a real person instead. We can do that Richard Branson thing and begin to grow ourselves. Step out of our parent's car (govt protective coccoon) and find our own way home seeing whatever we see on the way! I wish I could verify that Branson story! But it's ok for this essay.

So what about a source regarding the current system which is more "up to date" than Carroll Quigley? This is a little more difficult. Time elapsed provides perspective and we use that perspective to judge the accuracy and honesty of sources. But a present day source will not come with such a pedigree.

We can look at the change of behaviour of eg Alan Greenspan before and during his job as FedHed, FedChair, FedBoss or whatever it's called nowadays - how about FedPA for the Bossofbosses? Didn't the Italians have a word for that? The Capo di Tutti Capo? Earlier in his career Greenspan wrote about the merits of hard money (the paper is available online) and the gold standard. But later, when he had power, he did the opposite. That must have been some "Road to Damascus Revelation" moment when he turned! Ah to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place would have really been something!

So given that there has been no coup, and Greenspan's replacement Bernanke, and Bernanke's replacement Yellen have both been chosen by the same system, it's a sure thing they have great amounts of the same qualities. Therefore the successors are just as friendly to our interests as nice Mr Greenspan was. Which is not very friendly. They'll never change and are always going to do more of the same stuff! We don't need to see, we can look at what's around the information gap and infer what we need to know. But a little more details would be nice, (in a holding our hands kind of supportive way) so we get weak and once again listen to the psychobabble and in so doing we expose ourselves to the misinformation.

Better to accept the lack of detailed knowledge, accept the difficulty of proceeding without a full picture, accept that whose with complete satisfying pictures probably have their own agenda which is not for our benefit.

So this week the(ir) rumour mill is all full of deflation, and words like that. Funny thing. It seems to me that gold was going down (deflation) last year and the year before. Old news. But there are impressionable folks out there, so the gold price went down last week a bit as these investors unloaded their gold to ... hmm .... somebody else. Where is all that deflation stuff coming from anyway? The reports I mean? J S Kim of SmartknowledgeU dot com's closing phrase seems to apply here : Remain Intensely Curious.

You can't fight progress so they say. It may be true. So did it ever occur to you that opposing the march towards crazy and spreading the word about what's wrong might be delaying it just enough to ensure society arrives there right on time? It's a sobering thought.

On that point - the march to crazy - here is Ed Seykota talking with Michael Covel about Seykota's book called Govopoly:

Seykota is/was a trading legend and that sounds like a good insightful book. On my list, but the list is pretty long these days. But I like the taste the interview provides.

There's a lot more from Mr Covel at trendfollowing.com. He has many really good interviews here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcasts/ It's worthwhile looking through his backlist from time to time.

It's unnecessary to say to "be careful when dealing with markets". What you don't know, and don't know you don't know, can take a chunk out of your hide! In a way shaking hands with Mr Market is like shaking hands with Whiplash Willie! Count your fingers after the interaction!

For those not already in the know, or below a certain age, Whiplash Willie was the name of a crooked damages seeking lawyer played by the inimitable Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie. It has a truly great cast: Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau all together, maybe not as brilliant as Some Like It Hot, what with no Marilyn Monroe present. The Fortune Cookie was made in 1966, and it's still as sharp as a tack and could have been done yesterday! I'll leave you to search it, if you are in the mood you'll have some good laughs. Highly recommended for raising of morale.

Well that's it for the moment. I look forward to what you have to say in the comments section!

Great book, long read! Still only 300 pages into it, but plan to finish this winter. I've found many versions of Tragedy and Hope with the missing pages, and the ones that did include the missing pages (just like your link above), had the pages (re)inserted and the pages were actually LARGER in the pdf document. Stands out nicely!

Thanks for posting the link to the summary/highlights. I'll have to check that out before fully re-engaging.

For a couple other long reads, I'd recommend these (found on archive.org & elsewhere)

1) The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbons - covers far more than just the Roman rule years. There is a 6 volume set and a 12 volume set, both are the same.

There are 72 million psychopaths on the planet, and of those psychopaths - 72,000 have very high IQ.

What are those very high IQ Psychopaths doing, where do they work, how many are "High-Functioning" and able to manage their impulses so as to maximize their effectiveness.

Remember, these people have no capacity - what so ever - for remorse, shame, guilt, empathy, compassion. They will operate at all times to maximize their own self interest, and are open to any technique to further their self interest without fear of consequences for others that is available to use: E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Underwood_%28House_of_Cards%29

For free men - the defenses begin with awareness, and IMHO end with closing off the operational pathways of psychopathy. I.e. social structures that block the expression of psychopathic traits. I.e. "Free Speech", "Right to Privacy", Right to bear Arms", etc - these elements must be vigorously defended - or else we will all be blind, deaf, sheep simply waiting for to be slaughtered by the wolves amongst us.

“This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision which will eventually have to be defeated,” Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press conference in August.

Military action is necessary to halt the spread of the ISIS “cancer,” said President Obama. Yesterday he called for expanded airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, and new measures to arm and train Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces.

“The only way to defeat [IS] is to stand firm and to send a very straightforward message,” declared Prime Minister Cameron. “A country like ours will not be cowed by these barbaric killers.”

Missing from the chorus of outrage, however, has been any acknowledgement of the integral role of covert US and British regional military intelligence strategy in empowering and even directly sponsoring the very same virulent Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on to break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS’, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State (IS).

Federal employees who expose government waste, fraud and abuse are having a tough time in the “most transparent administration in history.”

Robert MacLean, a former air marshal, told a House subcommittee Tuesday that managers at the Transportation Security Administration “thumb their nose” at whistleblower protection laws.

MacLean, who complained that air marshals were improperly grounded by the TSA, is taking his termination to the U.S. Supreme Court after losing a series of lopsided proceedings at the agency. He said the TSA branded him “an organizational terrorist.”

So why does it matter if the gold price is rigged? A freely-determined gold price is central to ensuring that reality and not financial bubbles guides us in our financial and economic activities. Suppressing the gold price is rather like turning off a fire alarm because you can’t stand the noise.

I did notice that you referenced Richard Groves site. Richard has done a TON of research and has a great podcast section going back to 2009. https://www.tragedyandhope.com/th-podcasts/ His work can also be found on ITunes.

Though he only puts out a podcast every few weeks, some are over 10 hours long and the amount of research he's done is absolutely amazing, even if they do take up quite a bit of room on a cheap MP3 device.

It's high time America breaks free if it's chains, self imposed and otherwise!

"For free men - the defenses begin with awareness, and IMHO end with closing off the operational pathways of psychopathy. I.e. social structures that block the expression of psychopathic traits. I.e. "Free Speech", "Right to Privacy", Right to bear Arms", etc - these elements must be vigorously defended - or else we will all be blind, deaf, sheep simply waiting for to be slaughtered by the wolves amongst us."

I stumbled across Brett Sanders youtube channel yesterday and went through a lot of his videos. I find him very creative in exposing the machine and capturing it's antics like a cochroach scurrying when the light is turned on.

Great essay AM. Thanks. Thanks very much indeed. Turdville is all about quality. Best $10/month that I spend that's for sure. You are one of the anchors here AM. We are all very lucky to have you. Thanks so much for your fine contributions.

Hey BOG, checked out your post on a recent thread re: "The Shemitah" very interesting!! Thanks for sharing that. Truly fascinating. I checked out a bit more of his stuff. He's now on my radar.

Beddie-by time here, off to la la land. Hope that the metals don't get too whacked in the wee hours.... as Turd would say "stay focussed" , and as many of the turdites would say: "keep stackin'"

In an inscrutable move that has alarmed state treasurers, the Federal Reserve, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, just changed the liquidity requirements for the nation’s largest banks. Municipal bonds, long considered safe liquid investments, have been eliminated from the list of high-quality liquid collateral. assets (HQLA). That means banks that are the largest holders of munis are liable to start dumping them in favor of the Treasuries and corporate bonds that do satisfy the requirement. Continue reading →

U.S.-based accounts at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Deutsche Bank AG (ETR:DBK) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) were used to channel tens of millions of dollars’ worth of global drug money that was sent to shady Colombian currency brokerages, an affidavit from an undercover Massachusetts detective obtained recently by 100Reporters says.

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